Repatriation: Survey Results for Artefacts Abroad

Heritage Key (Jon Himoff)

The big Museums have the greatest advantage when it comes to the artefacts that the UNESCO heritage sites and others want back -- the big Museums have possession. Further, the Museums typically reside in the countries that made the laws governing repatriation. But as cultural tourism continues to be a growing and massive business, the UNESCO sites are making their own big Museums and are able to hire their own lawyers to defend their interests (check Zahi Hawass' Most Wanted List). The complex battle for who controls artefacts is really heating-up now. Perhaps the issue of who owns antiquity is possibly less urgent than who controls it. Yet, what does all this mean to us?

One person commented in the Heritage Key survey (see full results below): "The fact is, that many of these artefacts were saved from oblivion by being brought to European museums and later North American and other important museums around the world." And you might also consider that while some of the pieces are well known, they are also a fairly small percentage of all the artefacts discovered--or to be discovered.

Illegal activity should also be sanctioned: "The fact that museum directors, antiquities dealers, and others in the field still hold out hands while covering their eyes to the black market is a crime that should no longer be facilitated." It was encouraging to see the Louvre (perhaps reluctantly, but eventually) do the right thing when challenged on Egyptian hot artefacts (read > the TT15 wall fragments scandal here).

Is Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis the president of the new Acropolis Museum, right when he suggested that things like the Elgin Marbles belong to the world, serving as a unifying symbol of European civilisation which aren’t owned in a legal sense (since they can’t in reality be bought or sold) but are really the cultural property of humanity. So if antiquity belongs to everyone, then what do we think about distributing objects around the world?

"It is invaluable that different artefacts from different cultures are spread amongst the world as if every Egyptian artefact went back to Egypt, many people will never get the opportunity to visit Egypt and see these important pieces," commented one respondent. Additionally, spreading them out makes the entire set less liable to a single damaging event like a natural disaster or war.

We asked Heritage Key users to share their opinions on "Artefacts Abroad" and below are the results and some further comments. Please join the discussion and add your comments below.